G and I have been working on a Google doc called Chez Funz: The Guidebook.
This is the manual for our house.
We’ve had so many house-sitters over the years our house now comes with its own manual.
This is it. Chez Funz: The Guidebook
omg, I used pinking shears.
It’s filled with instructions on everything from how to feed and care for the dog(s) to how to start the dishwasher.
contents of The Guidebook
One year a high school kid house-sat for us. That year I created short YouTube videos for how to work the remote, feed the dog, and start the dishwasher. I thought it would be more fun for him to watch YouTube videos than read the guidebook.
Not that the guidebook isn’t fun! It is! It’s written masterfully, making fun of all Guidebooks and Manuals.
It contains wry witticisms and little stories, including a rather suspenseful one about what to do if a bat gets in the house.
I like that the manual now has video links.
Maybe next year, QR codes?
The guidebook was fun to write, and every year when we go to update it, I find it weirdly comforting to read how my own house works.
With house sitters coming soon, I am also looking at my house more critically.
Does it need to be decluttered? (Always.)
Is everything neat and clean? (Mostly.)
What would a stranger see?
Does it reflect the way I live and what I care about?
If I was in the market for an Airbnb, would I stay at this place?
If I was a potential buyer, would this meet my needs?
Culture Study’s Anne Helen Peterson wrote a great essay on her Substack this week about the “market gaze.”
The market gaze is seeing your home through the lens of a future buyer. She says that’s why people don’t decorate or renovate according to their own taste anymore.
She says we might not even know what we prefer anymore because our taste has been so distorted by HGTV and other culturally-approved design trends.
You can’t paint your kitchen walls turquoise even if you love a turquoise kitchen because kitchens sell houses, and turquoise won’t sell.
Same with renovations. A white kitchen, even if you love dark cherry.
Think resale.
Last fall, we re-did our living room. New furniture, rugs, and drapes. Was I influenced in my furniture and rug picks by HGTV?
I don’t doubt it.
But I also don’t doubt the happiness our selections made me. Within our budget, I was able to prioritize comfort and function and a pleasing-to-me design aesthetic.
So today, I’m pulling back and trying to see my rooms from the house sitters’ point of view.
Will they be comfortable?
Will they enjoy the rose-breasted grosbeak at the feeder, the ferns in the gazebo, and the burr of the coffee bean grinder?
Will they nap on the couch, read in the chair, and check their email from the deck?
Will they appreciate my design choices? Will the house support the life they want to live when they’re here?
Will my home nurture their body, mind, and spirit the way it does mine?
I really hope so.
Inspiration Location 